


drift down into the new dark light

by TheNugKing



Category: Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Episode: s02e05 Same Stitch, M/M, Moral Ambiguity, POV Second Person, which i have not written before but this fic just wanted to be written that way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22340476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNugKing/pseuds/TheNugKing
Summary: You face down Waller on the roof of the GCPD and you have to decide who to keep safe from her. John, or Selina, or Iman, or who knows how many innocents that Harley and Bane could hurt. And you won’t - you can’t - give up John. You hate Waller for ever even thinking of him as a villain, after everything he did. John helped stop the Pact. He got the virus off Harley when no one else could. He handed over the love of his life to Waller. And there’s no way you could ever do the same.*The story of a Batman who decides not to defend Waller from Joker during episode 5.
Relationships: John Doe/Bruce Wayne, Joker (DCU)/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 102





	drift down into the new dark light

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from The Mountain Goats' Heel Turn 2, which I listened to Constantly while writing this.

You have to make difficult choices, when you’re Batman.

You face down Waller on the roof of the GCPD and you have to decide who to keep safe from her. John, or Selina, or Iman, or who knows how many innocents that Harley and Bane could hurt. And you won’t - you can’t - give up John. You hate Waller for ever even thinking of him as a villain, after everything he did. John helped stop the Pact. He got the virus off Harley when no one else could. He handed over the love of his life to Waller. And there’s no way you could ever do the same.

But when you look around at Iman and Selina and Harley and Bane, it doesn’t make the cost any easier to bear.

Joker glares at you, furious that you’d let Waller off the hook, and you tell him it’s the best you can do. And you wish you could do better.

But you’re Batman, and Batman is a hero. He has a code, he doesn’t kill, he fights criminals to protect the people of Gotham.

You aren’t sure who the criminals are any longer.

You don’t know if heroes really exist.

Batman’s a hero who was willing to sacrifice his own life for Selina’s, when Harley asked about the rat. Except he sacrificed the lives of the employees at the Bodhi Spa too. He’s a hero who endured Riddler’s torture to save two lives. Except he put Iman through worse to do that.

Waller was right. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

But that doesn’t mean you get to keep thinking of yourself as a good guy afterwards.

You don’t get to keep human test subjects and go after anyone who blows the whistle on you and keep Selina, or even Harley and Bane, as your slaves, and fire Jim and threaten Iman and try to kill John and then still be the good guy.

You don’t know if you can stop Waller and still be the good guy. You don’t know if you were ever the good guy. 

You don’t know if your code means anything if you let her go free. You don’t know if your code ever meant anything at all.

Joker stands in front of you, bathed in light, and he feels like the one thing that’s certain in Gotham.

You don’t know if he’s right, either. But you know he’s the one you want by your side.

So you make your choice. And stride over to stand with him.

And Joker gives a smile that could light up the world.

And Waller threatens you. Again. 

She still holds the secret of your identity. And while she does, she’ll always have some control over you, because Batman has no need to answer to anyone, but Bruce Wayne does.

Except that she’s forgetting the Joker. Who all of Gotham must know is named John Doe, who made no attempt to disguise his appearance. Who the Agency only found because he wanted them too. Who didn’t need money to create gadgets to rival Batman’s, just ordinary people who believed in him. Who will have to stay hidden, on the run, after the crimes he’s committed trying to make Gotham better. Who shouldn’t have to go through that alone.

You first put on the mask because you knew the law enforcement wouldn’t allow your methods, even as certain you were back then that you were in the right. It gave you a freedom that Bruce Wayne - CEO, billionaire, public figure - could never have. But now...

You’ve lied so much, to so many people, and that weighs down on you just as much as your code did. 

There’s no going back now. Not since you made your choice to stand with John. 

So you release yourself from Waller’s control. You lose everything. You find freedom. You take off the mask.

You stand there and reveal your identity, and to the rest of the world it might look like Bruce Wayne and Batman becoming one. But to you it feels like giving up the lie of Batman, the hero so certain of everything. It feels like giving up the lie of Bruce Wayne, the playboy that nothing matters to. You give them up, finally, and reveal yourself as someone you barely know.

The others stare at you as you take off the mask. John and Selina and Iman scared for you. Waller shocked and scrambling to respond. Bane and Harley astonished, and then beyond that, dawning anger, and then they’re both running at you, murder in their eyes, and Joker’s flinging bombs towards them, and you wrap your arms around his waist and open your wings and leap.

You fly - you fall - away from everything you’ve ever been sure of, to hide in the darkness of the alleyway below. It could almost be a thousand other nights, but it’s nothing like any other night. And tonight, for what feels like the first time, you’re not alone. Joker smiles again and the alleyway is brighter and he takes your hand and you run, together, before anyone can find you.

You don’t know what lies down this path. You don’t know if Batman and Joker will keep each other afloat in the area between good and evil, or if you’ll drag each other down and drown together. But you know that if you fall, at least it won’t be alone. You know whatever comes next, the two of you will face it side by side.

Not heroes. Not villains.

Batman and Joker. Cleaning up Gotham. Together.


End file.
